Cold shooting costs Harden, Rockets
ORLANDO, Fla. — Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon each scored 22 points, Evan Fournier had 17, and the Orlando Magic rallied past the injury-depleted Houston Rockets 116-109 on Sunday night.
Houston's James Harden scored 38 points to push his run of 30-point games to 16, but at a high price. The Rockets star was just 1 for 17 on 3-pointers. He had 12 assists and nine rebounds.
Austin Rivers scored 25 points, and Clint Capela 17 points and 10 rebounds for Houston, which lost for only the fourth time in its last 17 games.
Terrence Ross had 17 points for Orlando, including six during a 16-2 run late in the fourth when the Magic put away Houston.
With Harden on the bench for a brief rest, the Rockets used a 10-2 run to start the fourth period and grab a 98-88 lead, but the Magic passed them when Ross followed a three-point play with a 3-pointer to make it 106-105 with 3:11 left.
Fournier and D.J. Augustin followed with back-toback 3-pointers, and Vucevic hit a short jump hook that finished a 16-2 run that gave the Magic a 114-107 lead with 1:21 left in the game.
Harden nearly had a triple-double at halftime with 16 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
Houston's first half was almost exclusively Harden's dribbling behind the top of the 3-point line and taking step-back 3-pointers or driving to the basket for layups or lobs to Capela. Harden was 1 for 9 from 3-point land. Four of his assists were alley-oops to Capela for dunks.
Orlando didn't have the one-man show Houston did, but the Magic got scoring from all nine players and were only down 59-52 at halftime.
RAPTORS 140 WIZARDS 138 (2OT)
Serge Ibaka hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in the second overtime as host Toronto outlasted Washington for its fifth straight victory.
Toronto blew a 23-point lead before dropping Washington.
Kawhi Leonard led Toronto with 41 points and 11 rebounds, and Pascal Siakim had 24 points and a career-high 19 rebounds.
Bradley Beal had his second triple-double of the season for Washington, finishing with season highs of 43 points and 15 rebounds and adding 10 assists.
CAVALIERSS 101, LAKERS 95
Cedi Osman scored 20 points, Collin Sexton added 17, and Cleveland ended a 12-game losing streak with a victory at Los Angeles.
Tristan Thompson had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Alec Burks had 17 points and 13 rebounds as Cleveland split the twogame season series.
WARRIORS 119, MAVS 114
Stephen Curry scored 48 points, making 11 3-pointers, and Golden State held off host Dallas.
Kevin Durant added 28 points, and Klay Thompson had nine of his 16 in the fourth quarter as Golden State received a valiant battle from a Dallas team playing without the injured J.J. Barea and Dennis Smith Jr.
Curry's 11th 3-pointer of the game — tying a seasonhigh — gave Golden State a 117-114 lead after a see-saw fourth quarter.
BUCKS 133, HAWKS 114
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 33 points, Eric Bledsoe added 24 points and 10 assists, and Milwaukee won in coach Mike Budenholzer's return to Atlanta.
Khris Middleton finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds to help Milwaukee improve to 30-12, secondbest in the NBA. Coming off a loss at Washington that Antetokounmpo missed with injuries, Milwaukee is 12-0 following a defeat and remained the league's only team not to drop consecutive games.
76ERS 108, KNICKS 105
Ben Simmons had 20 points, 22 rebounds and nine assists, and Joel Embiid scored 26 points to help Philadelphia win at New York.
New York's Emmanuel Mudiay missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime.
NUGGETS 116, BLAZERS 113
Nikola Jokic scored a season-high 40 points, Jamal Murray fought through a bloody lip to add 24, and Denver rebounded from a loss at Phoenix for its 12th home win in a row.
Jokic finished a point off his career high.